Task Group on Controlled Series Access in Law Library Catalogs
Cataloging and Classification Standing Committee

Task Group on Controlled Series Access in Law Library Catalogs will develop best practices for series access in law libraries. In recognition of the fact that law libraries may differ in their priorities and the availability of resources to devote to series access, the group will propose two different sets of best practices, which will be submitted to members of the TS-SIS Cataloging and Classification Committee for review.

The Task Group submitted its final report to the Chair of the TS-SIS Cataloging and Classification Standing Committee on September 15, 2006. A slightly revised version of the report was approved by the TS-SIS Executive Board in January 2007.

Report of the Series Task Group

Submitted Sept. 15, 2006
Revised Jan. 5, 2007

The Series Task Group was formed as an ad hoc working group of the Cataloging and Classification Standing Committee of TS-SIS after the 2006 Annual Meeting of AALL in St. Louis. The task group was initially charged with drafting two sets of best practice recommendations in response to the Library of Congress's decision to cease providing controlled access to series titles as of June 1, 2006: one for libraries that choose to follow LC's decision on series access, and one for those that prefer to continue with series title authority control. The task group was subsequently asked to endorse one of these two sets of practices as the preferred option for law libraries.

The task group includes members who plan to adopt LC's policy in their own library and members who do not, although those who have decided to continue providing controlled access to series titles form a large majority of the group. Supporters of LC's decision maintain that series titles are not important enough as access points to merit the effort involved in authority control, and that in an online environment keyword searching provides an acceptable alternative for access to them. Members who wish to continue with controlled access consider series titles critical as access points at least for some groups of users and for some types of material. One member who is personally skeptical about the value of series headings as access points feels nonetheless that law libraries should continue to perform series authority control as long as it forms part of the national standard for collaborative cataloging set by PCC.

The task group has decided almost unanimously to endorse continued controlled access to series titles in cataloging records.

For libraries that continue to provide controlled access, the task group has agreed on the following recommendations:

1. For original cataloging where a national authority record exists, enter and trace the series title in its authorized form both in your local record and in your record for OCLC.
2. For copy cataloging where a national authority record exists, upgrade the OCLC record, if necessary, to include the authorized form of the series heading.
3. Consider joining NACO and creating national authority records for series titles not yet in the national file.
4. If you do not join NACO, enter and trace series statements based on the title in hand and in a way as consistent as possible with NACO guidelines.

For those libraries that choose no longer to provide controlled access to series titles, the task group has agreed on the following recommendations:

1. For original cataloging of new titles, follow LC's practice and transcribe series statements as found on the piece in 490 0_ fields.
2. Do not make any changes to traced series statements found in existing records in your catalog.
3. Do not make any changes to traced series statements found in cataloging copy from other libraries.
4. Index 490 0_ fields as titles, and try to ensure that your OPAC includes an option for a targeted search of series title keywords only.

All task group members, regardless of their plans in their own libraries, contributed to the development of both sets of guidelines. The group considered but did not adopt any recommendations involving distinctions between different categories of series. Most of the recommendations listed under each option were unanimous. One member would have preferred to recommend that libraries providing controlled access to series trace them only in their local catalogs and not in records contributed to OCLC, and that libraries following LC's decision change traced series statements to untraced ones in copy cataloging and older records.

• Cataloging & Classification Committee
• Task Group on Controlled Series Access
  • Final Report

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Revised: October 26, 2006.
URL: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/committees/cataloging/controlledseriesaccess/index.htm